CSA Releases New Big Data Report

CSA EMEA 2013 – Edinburgh, Scotland – September 24, 2013 – The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Big Data Working Group today announced the release of Big Data Analytics for Security Intelligence. The new research report details how the landscape of security analytics is changing with the introduction and widespread use of new tools and opportunities for leveraging large quantities of structured and unstructured data. The initial report also outlines some of the fundamental differences from traditional analytics and highlights possible research directions in Big Data security.

“The goal of Big Data analytics for security is to obtain actionable intelligence in real time,” said Alvaro Cardenas, industry expert and lead author of the report “Although Big Data analytics holds significant promise, there are a number of challenges that must be overcome to realize its true potential. We have only just begun, but are anxious to move forward in helping the industry understand its potential with new research directions in Big Data security.”

In addition to looking at the differences between traditional analytics and Big Data analytics, the report also discusses the impact of Big Data analytics on security, includes examples of Big Data usage in security contexts (network security, advanced persistent threats, enterprise event analytics and netflow monitoring to identify botnets), outlines a platform for experimentation on anti-virus telemetry data, and proposes a series of open questions about the role of Big Data in security analytics. To access a full copy of the report visit: https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/download/big-data-analytics-for-security-intelligence/.

In conjunction with the release of Big Data Analytics for Security Intelligence, the CSA will also hold a dedicated session to discuss the research report at CSA Congress EMEA being held this week in Edinburgh, Scotland. Wilco van Ginkel, co-chair of the CSA Big Data Working Group and head of Enterprise Strategy at Verizon Enterprise Solutions will lead the “Big Data Working Group” session, which will focus on the report findings, along with a number of other relevant topics including the diversity of challenges facing enterprises surrounding Big Data analytics, a review of the Top 10 Big Data and Security and Privacy Challenges, and an investigation into the best practices to overcome the toughest Big Data challenges.

Laboratories of America and co-chaired by Neel Sundaresan, Senior Director and Head of eBay Research Labs at eBay and van Ginkel is focused on taking industry ownership in addressing the world’s immediate urgency for collaborative research and solutions on Big Data topics. The group is specifically working to address the security and privacy issues magnified today by the velocity, volume, and variety of Big Data, such as large-scale cloud infrastructures, diversity of data sources and formats, streaming nature of data acquisition and high volume inter-cloud migration. The group consists of more than 30 CSA member companies in collaboration to provide industry guidance and best practices for Big Data security. Companies and individuals interested in learning more or joining the group can visit:

The Cloud Security Alliance is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to promote the use of best practices for providing security assurance within Cloud Computing, and to provide education on the uses of Cloud Computing to help secure all other forms of computing. The Cloud Security Alliance is led by a broad coalition of industry practitioners, corporations, associations and other key stakeholders. For further information, visit us at cloudsecurityalliance.org, and follow us on Twitter @cloudsa.